March 3, 2013 St. Martin of Tours Church Page Two Masses For The Week Our Weekly Sacrificial Gift Monday - March 4 Last Week February 23/24 Collection 6:30 Sister Kate McBarron Amount Budgeted: $17,500.00 9:00 Connie & Michael Maggio Amount Received: $17,912.84 Tuesday - March 5 6:30 Christina Martuge Thank you for your generosity & support! 9:00 Michael Smith Wednesday - March 6 6:30 Lucy Speelman Reflection & Living Stewardship 9:00 Doris Ennis The parable in today’s Gospel clearly Thursday - March 7 6:30 Mary Bandelt warns that we, like the fig tree, will 9:00 Frank Sergio & Family be judged by our fruit. While God Friday - March 8 mercifully provides us with time and 6:30 Nettie & Arthur Chiampou opportunity, let us give witness to our faith with 9:00 Deceased Members of the Hospital Ministry Saturday - March 9 deeds of kindness and generosity. 9:00 Multiple Intentions Announced 5:00 Keith G. Meehan, Anniversary We are grateful this week for all stewards in our par- 7:00 Mary Ellen & Patrick Naughton ish who love actively. How? By serving in a soup Sunday - March 10 kitchen, food homeless shelter, hospital or assisted 7:00 The People of the Parish 8:30 Mbrs. of Martin & Lewandowski Families living facility. 10:00 Patrick, Sarah & Padraig McCann 11:30 Frank & Jennie Juliano Please pray for the women and men in our Mil- 1:00 Mary & Frank Mingione 5:30 Sabina Brigandi itary and their families and friends as Readings For The Week they selflessly protect and defend our Mon. 2 Kings 5:1-15b nation against all forms of terrorism. Tues. Daniel 3:25, 34-43; Matthew 18:21-35 Wed. Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9; Matthew 5:17-19 Thurs. Jeremiah 7:23-28; Luke 11:14-23 Fri. Hosea 14:2-10; Mark 12:28-34 Charismatic Prayer Group Sat. Hosea 6:1-6; Luke 18:9-14 Sun. Joshua 5:9a, 10-12 God delivered Israel Some people hate to ask for directions. One from Egypt. All the people celebrated Passover with of them must have invented the GPS!!! Ask- unleavened cakes and parched grain in their new land, ing God for directions is easy. You ask, He the promised land flowing with milk and honey. tells you. You mess up, you ask again. He tells you again and over and over! Come get 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 We are ambassadors your directions. for Christ and ministers of reconciliation to one another. We must all be reconciled to God so that we might Our next meeting is Monday, March 4th in “become the righteousness of God in him.” St. Alphonsus Hall. Call (516) 993–9672 for any prayer requests or more information. Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 Jesus told his followers the parable of the prodigal son. It is never too late to repent to be received back by a loving father, and to en- joy his presence forever. St. Martin of Tours HOP Club Divine Mercy Novena Feb. 25 #605 John & Margaret O’Mara $25.00 Every Friday at 2:00 p.m. Feb. 26 #618 Anne Adams $25.00 in the Eucharistic Chapel Feb. 27 #3 M/M Frank Canepa $25.00 Feb. 28 #647 Ronny & Tony Ciarniello $25.00 ALL ARE WELCOME! Mar. 1 #167 Joseph Russo $50.00 Page Three St. Martin of Tours Church March 3, 2013 Wedding Banns Please pray for the sick of our parish: 1st: Nicholas Rini and Diana Colleluori Reminder: please call the rectory at 931-0818 to remove a name off the list. Helena Carroll, Pat Pedone, Vincent Valenti “Whatever you do for one of these, Ledwin Mason, Leevalli Annearosa, Fran Pignataro the least of my sisters & brothers, Skylar Vega, Catherine Dalessio, Leigh Murphy you did it for me.” Helena Mulligan, Richard Piernini, John Tortorice Joseph Simon, Douglas Torres, Patricia Hall This week the pantry is low on macaroni & cheese, James Robertson, Amy Hayes, Mom & Dad, Gina Cava coffee, jelly, canned fruit, sweet and regular cereals, Helena Mulligan, Bill Kelly, Salvatore Milo, Jr. pork & beans, tuna fish, peas, cake mix, tissues, Matthew Messina, Anne Cramer, Donna Pellicano William John Staudt, Jimmy Stiffa, Sharon Shiepko laundry soap, dish soap, diapers (size 4 & 5), tooth Christopher Gratton, John Mitchell, Salvatore Accardi brushes, shampoo, conditioner, paper towels, boxed Marie Bosco, Mary Donahoe, Robert Cakoyanis milk, juice boxes, bottled juice, sugar and oil. Peggy Namiotka, Pat Cannata, Barbara Thompson Teresa Moran Theissen, Christine Ketchem As always, we are so grateful for the tremendous generosity of our parishioners. Food Pantry: 208 Broadway, Bethpage Holy Face Holy Hour Monday: 9:30AM - 2:30PM Thursday: 2:00PM – 7:00PM Please come and experience this devo- Phone: (516) 931-7332 tion to the Holy Face of Jesus, our Sav- ior and Redeemer. Christian Mothers Prayer begins at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, Rosary Confraternity March 4th in the Eucharistic On Tuesday March 5th, we will have our General Chapel in reparation for blas- Meeting. The Rosary begins promptly at 7:30 PM phemy and the wounds to His and Father Jim McCabe, CSSR will be presenting a Holy Face. special Lenten program. Refreshments will be served. All will be blessed with Holy Face of Je- sus oil. At this meeting you can purchase tickets for our annual fund raiser - the CHINESE AUCTION - scheduled for Tuesday, April 2nd. Tickets are $5.00. Dessert, coffee and tea only will be served. Week of March 3– 9, 2013 The auction will consist of you bringing a NEW un- Altar Bread & Wine wrapped gift worth $10. You will receive an enve- lope of 10 chances to win a gift. You can purchase In Loving Memory of additional envelopes for $1.00 each. There will also Lucy Speelman be raffles and 50/50. Please see Janet Dion for tickets at the March 5th Rest in Peace meeting. Checks should be made out to CMRC for $5.00. You may also call her for tickets at 433- Acts 7:49: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 9340. James P. Barmonde, Anna Bernstein Looking forward to seeing everyone at the meeting! Perri Annibale, Angelina Aprandini Christian Zimmerman Page Four St. Martin of Tours Church March 3, 2013 Letter from the Pastor Happy March! We made it through January and February! Although we can still get a blast of snow, we do hope the worst of winter is over. This is a great month with some very important days to celebrate. Certainly Easter Sunday, March 31st is the most important day since the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the central feast of the Catholic Church. This Sunday March 3rd, we celebrate the Bethpage’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and rejoice as we honor Deacon Thomas Hennessy as the grand marshal of the parade. Over the past two years, I have said many prayers of gratitude to God for all the great ministry that Tom provides for our parish. Then on March 17th , we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! There would be Catholic liturgists who would call the 17th the Fifth Sunday of Lent, since the Sundays of Lent outrank any saint’s feast, but since I am a man whose patron is the great saint, March 17th is Saint Patrick’s Day in my heart. Just don’t tell the Bishop I said that! I also cannot forget March 19th, the great feast of the husband of the Blessed Mother, Saint Joseph. March 20th is the first day of spring, with all the promise of new life bursting forth and the promise of warmer days ahead. The baseball season begins on Easter Sunday night, and right now the Mets are in first place and have not lost a game! I love baseball stories. Tim McCarver, the former catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, now a popular television announcer, tells this story. He was catching for the great Bob Gibson. Bob Gibson, a Hall of Famer, was an outstand- ing pitcher and a fierce competitor. He owned the pitcher’s mound. Once Gibson was having an off day and had given up a couple of hits in a row. As is the baseball custom, the catcher, McCarver, walked out to the mound to offer his pitcher some advice. The great pitcher told McCarver when he arrived, “Get out of here! The only thing you know about pitching is that you can’t hit it!” I think of that story when it comes to me and money. I could picture someone saying to me, “The only thing you know about money is how to spend it.” I must confess I am far more comfortable writing sermons, visiting the sick, and hear- ing confessions than I am looking at financial statements. Truthfully, I do have some experience with money since, when I was the provincial of the Redemptorists, I was ultimately responsible for a budget with lots of zeros in it. I was fortunate enough to have a team of advisors that gave me great counsel. The same is true for me here at St. Martin’s. Our operating budget is over a million dollars a year. I am blessed to have our bookkeeper, Barbara Amoroso, Jim Letourneau, our accountant, Fathers Henry and Jim, both men wise in finances, the knowledgeable guidance of the pas- toral council, and the outstanding finance committee made up of men and women who have expertise in finances. As you know, our parish has some very practical needs that must be addressed in the coming years. To maintain our property, we must repave our parking lot, put a new roof on the school, and repair the school’s brick walls.